“How much more American blood will be shed before
Congress does its job?” he asked.

On Wednesday, he will seek to stiffen the resolve of fellow
Republicans on Capitol Hill before hosting congressional leaders for talks at
the White House.

Mr Trump heads to the south-western border on Thursday.

How did Democrats respond?

In a brief rebuttal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate
minority leader Chuck Schumer demanded that Mr Trump end the shutdown.

Mrs Pelosi said: “The fact is the women and children at
the border are not a security threat, they are a humanitarian challenge.”

The California congresswoman added: “And the fact is
President Trump must stop holding the American people hostage, must stop manufacturing
a crisis, and must reopen the government.”

Mr Schumer accused Mr Trump of trying to “govern by
temper tantrum”.

“President Trump has appealed to fear, not facts.
Division, not unity,” the New York senator said.

He concluded: “The symbol of America should be the
Statue of Liberty, not a 30-foot wall.”

Democrats argue that maintenance of existing border fencing,
hi-tech tools to scan vehicles crossing at ports of entry, and hiring more
personnel would be cheaper and more effective than a wall.

In the meantime, the United States and China continued trade talks in Beijing for an unscheduled third day amid signs of progress on issues including purchases of US farm and energy commodities and increased access to China’s markets.

The talks went “just fine” said Ted McKinney, US under
secretary of agriculture for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, without
giving further details. The US delegation heads home on Wednesday night.

McKinney’s upbeat assessment comes after US president Donald Trumptweeted on Tuesday evening that “Talks with China are going very well!”

People familiar with the talks said the world’s two largest
economies remained divided on Chinese structural reforms the Trump
administration was demanding in order to stop alleged theft and forced transfer
of US technology and on how to hold Beijing to its promises.

Hopes that the US and China would strike a deal, ending their months-long trade deal led to an index of world stocks rising on Tuesday, while the dollar, which hit an 11-week low on Monday, rebounded as the euro weakened on concerns about a slowdown in the euro zone economy.

This week’s meetings are the first face-to-face talks since Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping agreed in December to a 90-day truce in a trade war that has roiled global financial markets.

If no deal is reached by 2 March, Trump has said he will
proceed with raising tariffs to 25% from 10% on $200bn worth of Chinese imports
at a time when China’s economy is slowing significantly.

Trade and concerns over slowing economic growth triggered a
selloff at the end of 2018 that culminated in Wall Street posting its worst
monthly performance in about a decade in December, driving down earnings
estimates and stock valuations.

The editor-in-chief of China’s state-run Global Times
tabloid, Hu Xijin, said on Twitter earlier that the extension of the talks,
originally scheduled for two days, “sends a signal. The two sides are in
serious talks and working hard to solve the disagreements between them.”

In what is widely seen as a goodwill gesture, China on
Tuesday issued long-awaited approvals for the import of five genetically
modified crops, which could boost its purchases of US grains as farmers decide
which crops to plant in the spring.

On Monday, Chinese importers made another large purchase of
US soybeans, their third in the past month.

Increased purchases by China of US soybeans, oil, liquefied
natural gas and financial services are viewed as easier to achieve than major
changes to China’s industrial policies aimed at transferring US technology to
Chinese firms.

“Overall the talks have been constructive. Our sense is that
there’s good progress on the purchase piece,” said one person familiar with the
talks. The person added that it was more difficult to determine how to hold
China to its commitments to better protect intellectual property.

Scott Kennedy, director of the Project on Chinese Business
and Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington, said the two sides for the first time were discussing topics that
matter most to the Trump administration. These include expanded Chinese
purchases of American products, greater protections for US intellectual
property, constraints on Chinese industrial policy, and enforcement and
verification of follow-through by China.

“The minimum baseline for judging whether this week is a success is whether they can have an in-depth conversation on those areas,” Kennedy said, adding that an announcement of another round of talks would be a positive outcome.

Maritime First Newspaper is a liberal Nigeria maritime online news aggregator and blog. The site offers news, blogs, and original content that covers maritime, politics, business, entertainment, health and safety, interviews, popular media, and local news.
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